Laptop, notebook, or otherwise portable personal computers, referred hereafter as laptops or laptop computers, have become a common business, education, and entertainment tool. Laptops come in a variety of sizes and configurations for a variety of uses and functions as varied as the people using them. For example, some laptop computers are very small with a minimized screen size and keyboard, and a very thin design to maximize portability, while other laptop computers have large screens, full-sized keyboards, optical disk drives, and many ports for connecting with different peripheral devices, allowing for a desktop-style environment in a portable configuration.
Laptop computers are overwhelmingly configured in a folding design, with a video screen and upper case resting or directing above a keyboard and lower case when closed, and a flat keyboard with the video screen raised to about 90 degrees from the keyboard creating a work space. Because of the necessity of portability and folding in laptops, the battery, CPU, harddrive, optical drive, and other peripheral components are usually located in the lower case, which is generally flat, and the video screen is usually located alone in the upper case. The flat lower case and upper case design allow for the ubiquitous book-type shape and configuration of laptops.
One problem with the laptop configuration is that the keyboard is then oriented parallel to whichever surface the laptop is placed on. This results in an uncomfortable and potentially injurious typing position for the user. Another problem with laptops is in keeping laptops cool. As laptops become more powerful and slimmer, cooling is a major design challenge for laptops, with a usual configuration including an air intake on the bottom of the lower case and an air exhaust for removing heat from the laptop on a side of the laptop case. When the laptop rests on different surfaces, the airflow may be less than optimal for cooling, sometimes resulting in laptop failure or user discomfort due to the heat generated by the laptop.